Springbok fly-half Morne Steyn bagged 20 points as Northern Bulls defeated Western Stormers 25-17 at Orlando Stadium Saturday to win a third Super 14 title in four seasons.

Trailing 16-0 during the first half of only the second all-South African final, Stormers clawed within six points midway through the second half only for Steyn to kick three penalties.

It took his tally this season to 263 points - 42 more than the previous record held by All Blacks and Canterbury Crusaders fly-half Dan Carter - and missed just one of eight shots at goal on a cool, overcast evening.

A late Ricky Januarie try gave the scoreline a flattering look as the Bulls always appeared likely winners of the southern hemisphere championship climax watched by a sell-out 36,500 crowd.

Winning captain Victor Matfield praised the blue-clad Bulls supporters, many of whom have adopted the South Africa World Cup 'weapon' of a plastic vuvuzela trumpet and blew it every time Stormers fly-half Peter Grant kicked at goal.

"It was a special day for our country and great to hear the vuvuzelas blaring although we had to work hard at hearing our line-out calls," lock legend Matfield said.

"We have been slow to get into a game at times this season, but not this evening. We were focused and fired up and it was great to build an early 16-point advantage."

Stormers skipper and loose forward Schalk Burger had no excuses: "I am disappointed of course, particularly with some of our breakdown play. We allowed the Bulls a head start and simply were not good enough."

Bulls started favourites at their adopted home ground in the black township of Soweto, with Pretoria fortress Loftus Versfeld being readied for the FIFA World Cup that kicks off next month.

The defending champions made one change from the team that finished 15 points ahead of Canterbury Crusaders in the semi-finals, with Gerhard van den Heever returning to the right wing after serving a two-match ban.

But the scorer of eight Super 14 tries this season lasted just 10 minutes before an injury forced him to retire and be replaced by veteran former Springbok Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Appearing in their first Super final, Stormers kept faith with the starting line-up from a 19-point triumph over New South Wales Waratahs at Newlands in Cape Town seven days ago.

Bulls shrugged off the Van den Heever blow to lead 16-3 at half-time, with the usual suspect contributing most of the points as Steyn kicked three penalties and converted a Francois Hougaard try.

Guest-of-honour President Jacob Zuma said he wanted tries and his wish came true on 24 minutes as scrum-half Fourie du Preez set up Hougaard from a ruck and the wing rounded fullback Joe Pietersen to dot down under the crossbar.

Stormers pack was struggling to assert itself and regularly being turned over, but they got on the scoreboard nine minutes before half-time, when Grant succeeded with his first penalty attempt.

A more even but scrappy second half came to life on 54 minutes, when 2007 Rugby Player of the Year Bryan Habana intercepted a pass just inside Bulls territory and raced unchallenged to the line for a try Grant converted.

Steyn widened the Bulls lead to nine points with his fourth penalty, but failed for the first time when another attempt from near the touchline went just wide of the left post.

Not that it affected his confidence as two more penalty chances presented themselves in the closing stages and Steyn slotted both between the posts to give the Bulls a decisive 25-10 advantage.

Stormers got a second try through Januarie and Grant converted, but the hooter sounded soon after and Bulls joined Auckland Blues as three-time winners of a trophy Crusaders have lifted a record seven times.

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